Delirium

They’re everywhere, constantly guarding my every move like a wolf monitoring a herd of cattle. I try to explain their existence to others, but no one will listen. They think I’m some kind of crazy whack job but I know what I see, what I’m experiencing. I’m not crazy. Right now as I type this, I can feel one of those haunting monstrosities breathing down the back of my neck, its hot, metallic breath assaulting my senses, causing my eyes to begin to water. There’s loud banging coming from behind my door, I think more are trying to get in. The others are steadily moving closer, gawking at me with those unblinking bug eyes of theirs, chanting about taking every once of life I have left, but I won’t let them, I’ll fight if I have the strength. I know that by now, you’re beginning to feel like all the others, thinking that I’ve lost my mind or is suffering from some crippling mental disorder, but no! I’m not, crazy. I guess I should start from I beginning, back when these deformed visualizations were nothing but illusions, having yet to transform into realities. It all started about 3 months ago. My dear friend depression had reared its ugly head, and alcohol had become its alleviator. Having just lost my job, girlfriend, and no way to pay the bills, gave my life that soulless feeling you get when you think too hard about your existence. Just as I was about to finish my second bottle of whiskey, I spotted something in the corner of my eye. It almost looked, inhuman. I quickly spun my head in its direction but as quickly as it had arrived, it vanished. I figured the whiskey was starting to play tricks on me, and decided I’d had enough. Besides, if I wanted to keep my newly rented apartment, I’d have to find a job in the morning, my self-loathing could wait another day. About 2 weeks later, I was lucky enough to land a job at an electrician company. I’d make about $10 more than my old crumby job, offered health benefits and low priced insurance. I felt like I won the lottery. I was a week and a half late with the rent, and old man pedo stache threatened my eviction if I didn’t get the money by the end of the week. I was lucky; this job was offering paid training, and I’d have the money available to rub in that overweight freak show’s face. The new job was demanding, but somehow I was able to pull through. After work, I stopped by the bar for a quick stress relieving session. I must’ve drank more than I intended to because I could swear I saw that same deformed figure out of the corner of my eye. No luck catching it though, I turned to face it once more, coming to the same conclusion I’d had just a couple days ago. Maybe I couldn’t hold my liquor as well as I thought. I staggered out of the bar and decided to hail a cab. Now believe me when I say that this particular cab ride was the most f’d up experience of my life. One minute, things were fine. I was on my way home safely, having a lovely conversation with the cab driver. Then, completely out of the blue, he transforms into some demonic deformity that looked good enough to audition for the next season of American Horror Story. It turned to reach for me, tightly gripping my neck, squeezing out every bit of breath I had stored inside my lungs. I let out the most deafening scream I could muster and in an instance everything returned to normal. “Hey man, is everything OK?” The cab driver looked at me like I was some kind of escaped mental patient. “Yeah..yeah, I’m fine thanks.” I sat in silence for a while, thinking over what the hell just transpired. In the moments of my distant haze, it happened again, only this time his transformation was much more gruesome. Its eyes began to bulge from its face, its nails becoming sharp and rigid, its skin a leathery, black texture, horns protruding from the top of its head. I covered my mouth forcing down a scream that was brewing deep inside of me. It began chanting in a calm, distorted whisper. “If you can see us, you must join us.” As my sobriety began to surface, the disturbing imagery I was witnessing began to twitch between reality and fiction. I couldn’t tell if I was trapped in a nightmare or hallucinating the entire experience. The moment the cab halted at a stoplight, I hightailed it out of there like a gazelle escaping a lions chase. The driver yelled obscenities for skipping out on the tab. What the f**k just happened? I tried to be a Good Samaritan, taking a cab instead of drinking and driving, and I get attacked by Satan’s personal servant. I walked as briskly as I could back to the apartment and quickly locked the doors. Being alone with my thoughts, I arrived at the conclusion that the alcohol I’d been drinking was laced with some sort of hallucinogenic drug. I mean, what else could it be? I certainly wasn’t going insane. I swore off the stuff and for a while things were back to normal. Work was going well as planned and I even started seeing someone new. Things were finally looking up for me, that is, until I completely gave in to my alcoholic urges and began drinking again. I know I know, bad idea, but you know how hard it is to break old habits. This time however I made sure to buy a different brand. I thought for sure I would avoid all traces of whatever was causing my hallucinations. This would be especially necessary since my girlfriend would be coming over later that night. I downed a couple bottles of beers; my nervousness was starting to get the best of me. This would be the first time in days that we would spend a night alone together. I sat completely motionless on the couch, scanning my eyes across the room, waiting for one of those, things to appear. A sudden knock on the door woke me from my concentration; I cautiously got up to open the door. My hand began to shake as I reached for the knob, what if what was standing behind the door, was just some malignant beast masquerading as a human? I looked through the keyhole to alleviate my curiosity; that was a big mistake. What I saw was not my girlfriend; instead, what stood just beyond the doorframe was something straight out of a nightmare. Its head was lopsided and disfigured, long limbs reached towards to the floor, teeth as sharp as double-edged swords, its eyes sunken and hollow. Anger rose inside me, driving out any fear I had, how dare these things ruin this night for me! I slammed open the door catching the beast off guard and began pounding it with my fists, knocking it to the ground. It mimicked my girlfriend’s voice as it screamed in agony, but I didn’t stop. I continued bashing it with my fists, turning its face into a bloody pulp. My neighbors must have heard the scuffle, quickly exiting their rooms to witness the horrific massacre in front of them, one man brave enough to pry me away from the demon. That’s when my heart sunk deep into my chest. There, laying motionless on the floor was my girlfriend, cuts and bruises adorned her face, small pools of blood collecting around her. Everyone around us stared in silent dread and confusion from what just took place. I backed slowly into my apartment and hastily locked the door. It happened again..it happened again! Only this time it was worse, much worse. I may have possibly killed my girlfriend! I paced back and forth inside my living room, I was sure the cops would be after me soon enough. I cannot..let them take me. I’m sure they’d just lock me away in a mental hospital. They’d never believe what I saw, but it did happen, I’m not, crazy! That was not, my girlfriend. Dammit! What could I do! There was no convincing the cops of the supernatural, they’d possibly give me the death penalty. While all these thoughts swirled around in my head, I heard a low growl coming from behind me. I was reluctant to turn to face it but knew if I didn’t it would just sneak up behind me. I was startled to the ground by the site before me. Three of those ghastly abominations inched towards me, their bodies contorted like a demonic spirit in a horror movie. I stared in disbelief as they begin chanting: “Murderer! Murderer!” No, no no! I..I’m not, it was an accident, I swear! “You’re one of us, join us!” I covered my ears and yelled at the top of my lungs. I could feel their razor-sharp claws tearing at my clothing and skin, painfully ripping me to shreds like a wild animal feasting on its catch. I eventually black out and awoke minutes later to a loud banging at my door. I shot up from the ground and frantically looked down at myself, I was perfectly in tact. I fixed my gaze upon the door, eyes growing wider as the knocks intensified, a voice demanding the door be opened from the other side. Something in their speech told me they were inhuman, that if I opened that door, I’d meet a fate worse than anything I could ever imagine. I hastily walked to my bedroom and plopped on top of the bed. I tried to type this as quickly as I could, trying to document every last thing that occurred to me in the off chance that someone truly believes my story. I hope someone does, so i know I’m not crazy. The banging on the door has become deafening and the creatures are quickly closing in. I have a handgun sitting in a drawer in my bedside table, after this is posted, I’m going to grab it and end my life before I allow any of these demons to reach me. Farewell forever.